Individual questioning starts for Rivas jury

Posted: Tuesday, July 10, 2001

The Associated Press

DALLAS (AP) - Juror candidates voiced opinions on the death penalty, law enforcement and media coverage Monday as attorneys began grilling them in preparation for the capital murder trial of George Rivas, the ringleader of a gang of Texas prison escapees.

Prosecutors and defense attorneys will rigorously question five potential jurors a day until a panel is chosen for the Aug. 13 trial.

More than 400 county residents already have responded to questionnaires addressing similar issues that were distributed last month.

A court clerk said Monday it was unclear how many candidates had been dismissed from the pool based on their written responses.

On Monday, potential jurors were seated in the witness box as they answered the attorneys' questions. Rivas, dressed in a dark suit, sat quietly with his attorneys at a table.

One juror interviewed Monday said media reports portray Rivas as guilty, but he believed he could objectively weigh the facts. Defense attorneys objected to his opinion that police officers tend to be more honest than the average person.

Rivas is the first of six men to be tried in the Christmas Eve death of Irving policeman Aubrey Hawkins. District Attorney Bill Hill has said he will seek the death penalty against each man and will not accept plea agreements.

Legal experts say the Rivas jury may set a tone for the following trials. If Rivas is found guilty and sentenced to lethal injection, it will be easier to prosecute the others.

However, if Rivas is convicted, the defense only needs one sympathetic juror to avoid the death penalty. A life prison sentence would be the only other sentencing option.

Prosecutor Greg Davis told jurors that a death sentence can be given if a jury determines a defendant would be a continuing threat to society and either caused a death or participated in an offense knowing a life could be taken. Jurors also must review evidence for mitigating factors, he said.

Also this week, state District Judge Molly Francis is expected to act on a defense motion to suppress Rivas' 21-page statement, where he confesses to shooting Hawkins, who was hit 11 times during a sporting goods store robbery. Rivas' lawyers claim Colorado jailers denied him prompt access to a public defender.

Public defender Deborah Groves testified in a pretrial hearing that she tried repeatedly to see Rivas the day he was apprehended and gave the written confession.

But Teller County Sheriff Frank Fehn said Groves was denied access because the inmates had not requested attorneys and a judge had not appointed indigent defense.

Rivas was serving 17 life sentences for armed robbery convictions before his group's Dec. 13 escape from the maximum-security Connally Prison Unit in Kenedy.

Rivas and three others were captured in Colorado on Jan. 22. One man committed suicide rather than surrender and two others were captured two days later.